NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF COUPLED GROUND WATER/SURFACE WATER FLOW

In this talk, we will discuss the numerical approximation of a coupled system describing surface water/ground water interaction. In the model, surface water flow is assumed to satisfy the shallow water equations, while ground water flow is assumed to be described by Richards equation. At the ground water/surface water interface, continuity of pressure (water head) and normal water flux is assumed. We will describe the approximation of this system using a combination of continuous and discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods. These methods allow for a "weak" coupling of the models and allow for different finite element discretizations to be used in each regime. We will also discuss time-stepping issues related to the coupling, as surface water flow generally occurs on a much smaller time-scale than ground water flow. Numerical results will be presented